Max Headroom - Galactic Horizons
by ElegantButler
Summary: When the Earth becomes too polluted for people to live on the surface, most of the people have moved underground while the majority of the networks' staff are moving to space stations that house the actual networks.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 01: Background and Goodbyes

Network 23 was one of the world's top television networks. With a variety of shows, and a world-famous lineup of reporters, including Edison Carter, they had garnered several prestigious awards such as the Vidi, which was the award for best show on air.

From 1997 to the year 2005, the Network had been located in the center of London, standing proudly over the rest of the city like a giant monolith. It had been run by Ned Grossberg and Ben Cheviot for most of that time, until the scandal involving a new style of advertising called blipvertisements, or blipverts, caused Grossberg to lose his position as network chairman.

Now, due to the fact that there were fewer plants being grown outdoors to support the food industry (they relied mainly on hydroponics), the pollution content of the air had been growing steadily worse over the past few years. Since most people either paid attention only to television or kept themselves fed on Zik Zak burger packs and crunch fries, nobody had noticed the growing pollution until it had been too late.

Now most of the people had fled to underground bunkers where filtered air was pumped in regularly through a ventilation system.

For the past two months, the employees at Network 23 had been training for life on a space station. Since it was important for them to be able to reach a global audience, it had been decided that the majority of the employees would be sent up to a position in space above the pollution where their signal could be sent out with minimal interference.

Edison Carter was one of the few employees who would remain behind on the polluted earth. As a reporter, he was needed on the ground to investigate the stories that took place there.

Since he would soon be parted for a long time from his friends, he had invited them to a dinner at the Fresh Start, one of the few restaurants in the city not run by Zik Zak and one of the few that had been able to afford the move to the underground city.

Seeing Murray, Theora, and Bryce he waved to them.

They waved back and the party went into the restaurant together

"So, you head up tomorrow," Edison said as they sat at their table.

"It's really exciting," Bryce said. "I'm hoping they'll have an anti-gravity room I can conduct a few experiments in. Max is coming, too. It'll be easier for him to air from direct line of sight than to shoot a signal up through the pollution layer and back down again."

"I heard Cheviot is staying at ground level, too. Apparently he's too old and fragile to make the trip to the station."

"How long is the trip?" Edison asked.

"Fifteen hours," Bryce told him. "But the first ten minutes will be at high velocity. The gravitational forces will be very powerful."

"That would be a problem for anyone Cheviot's age who didn't have a lifetime of astronaut training," Edison conceded. "How about you, Bryce? Think you can handle it. You seem a little fragile to me."

"I've been training for this mission ever since it was brought up," Bryce told him. "I can handle it. Though I might pass out for a few moments due to the high stress level."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Theora assured him.

"You're probably right," Bryce smiled. "I passed the test in the simulator so I should be okay."

They ordered their dinner and ate in mostly in silence, each considering the next day and the adventure it would bring them.

After dinner, Murray spoke up.

"No time for dessert I'm afraid," he said. "We have an early start tomorrow morning. We're staying together in the bunker at the old space center."

"Then I'll say goodbye now," Edison said. "I've got an interview in the morning so I'll probably miss your lift-off."

"We'll contact you once we've set up on the station," Theora told him. "I'm sure you'll hear from Bryce as soon as he discovers or invents something new."

"I'm hoping I can continue to count on him for help when I need it, too," Edison said, looking at Bryce as he spoke.

"I'll do what I can," Bryce promised.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 02: Lift-Off - The Journey Begins

Bryce was the last to strap himself into his chair on the shuttlecraft that would take Edison's team to the space station. He had been talking with the flight crew about the various aspects of the shuttle's systems and their view of space travel.

"It's beautiful up there," the captain told him. "But it can also be scary at times. Space is not your friend. Nor is it your enemy if you're careful with it. It's quite ambivalent. Respect it and you'll be okay. Otherwise, you're in a lot of trouble."

"You sound like you're talking about the sea," Theora said as Bryce sat down and strapped in.

"My great grandfather was a sea captain," the captain explained. "He wrote a diary that said pretty much the same thing. I quickly found out when I took my first trip into space that space and the sea are sisters of a sort. Both beautiful and both deadly."

The captain moved to the main cabin and strapped himself in.

"Shuttle 23-A to mission control," he said. "Everyone's boarded and we're waiting for clearance."

"This is mission control," a woman's voice said. "The weather is a balmy seventy degrees and we have clearance. Pollution cover is at forty percent so we'll be transferring to instruments at once lift-off has commenced."

"Understood, Shuttle 23-A ready. All passengers strapped in and ready."

"The planet sends best wishes to them," mission control told them. "Countdown minus 10...9...8…"

The count continued until lift-off.

Murray, Theora and Bryce gripped were held back against their chairs by the tremendous force of gravity as the shuttle left the launch pad.

"You kids okay back there?" the co-pilot asked, keeping his eyes on the instruments.

Murray winced at being called a kid, but answered all the same.

"We're fine," he announced. "All's good back here."

"Glad to hear it," the co-pilot told him. "We'll be clearing the atmosphere in 7 minutes. Just relax. All will be well."

Once the strain of lift-off had passed, Theora relaxed and looked out the window.

Below them the Earth spun silently. They slowly orbited the planet on a trajectory to the geostationary Star Station 23.

"Estimated arrival time fourteen hours twenty minutes," the captain told them once orbit had been established. "Any questions?"

Bryce had wanted to ask a dozen when he'd first boarded the shuttle. Now that he was looking at space for himself, not from the viewpoint of a video camera's ancient recording, he was too stunned to speak.

"Cat got your tongue?" Murray asked him.

Bryce nodded mutely.

"It's amazing," Theora said, agreeing with what Bryce's eyes were saying.

"Just think, people used to come up here to find out about space," Bryce finally spoke up. "Now they come to get away from the pollution. Though so far only network employees can afford to come."

"Just as well," Murray pointed out. "We don't have room up here for the population of even one city. And there are hundreds, no thousands of cities down there below us."

"Maybe some day we'll find a way to clean up the pollution?" Bryce offered.

"As long as people are watching TV instead of watching the planet, I doubt that will ever happen," Murray said, shaking his head regretfully.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 03: Star Station 23 - Arrival

"Hey," Murray's voice sifted through the haze of Theora's dream. "We're almost there."

Theora opened her eyes and looked blurrily at Murray.

"Where's Bryce?" she asked.

"He went to chat with the captain. Probably asking about docking procedures."

Bryce returned a moment later.

"All questions answered?" Theora asked.

"Hardly," Bryce told her. "They had to start getting ready so they booted me back here."

Theora smiled.

"You'll get your answers one day," she told him. "Did you see the station?"

"Just a small glimpse," Bryce admitted "The cockpit window is too small to really get a good view."

The captain's voice came over the shuttler's intercom system several minutes later.

"We are entering star station orbit and preparing for docking," he told them. "If you look out the right side window, you can see Star Station 23."

Bryce, Murray, and Theora turned their heads and gazed at the place that would soon be their new home.

Star Station 23 consisted of four flat levels that reminded Murray of the blades of an old fashioned motorized fan. Each 'blade' was turned at a different angle from the other levels, giving a staircase effect. They were attached by oval tunnels that led to the central lift cluster.

On the outer rim of the highest blade was the station's docking bay. It reminded Bryce of the pictures he'd seen in history books of the deck of an aircraft carrier. Only this deck was protected by a large clear cover.

As the shuttle approached, the radio flared into life.

"Shuttle 23-A this is Star Station 23," a man's voice said. "We have you on our radar. You are clear to land on the deck. Please hold for deck open."

"Star Station 23," the captain replied, "this is Shuttle 23-A. We are in star station orbit and awaiting deck open."

The deck's protective cover lifted until there was room for the shuttle to land.

Once the shuttle had touched down, the cover closed down over it.

"Star Station 23 deck now closed," an electronic female voice told them. "Please wait until appropriate oxygen and gravity levels have been reached before deboarding the shuttle."

They had to wait an additional fifteen minutes until the large space had sufficient oxygen and gravity on deck. Once these had been established, a maintenance crew came out to tend to the shuttle while Murray, Theora, and Bryce deboarded.

Lauren, Network 23's chief board member aboard the station, soon came onto the deck.

"I see you've made it safely aboard," she said. "Good. I'll show you where you'll be sleeping and working, and you can drop off your bags. Then I'll give you a tour of the station."

Theora, Bryce, and Murray followed Lauren into the lift cluster.

"The middle lift leads to the personal rooms," Lauren explained. "It's the only one that does. And it requires a code key. This is to ensure that the occasional visitor does not accidentally end up in someone's private room. I will give you the code once the tour is over."

She keyed it in and the lift door opened.

Bryce was the first to enter, followed by Theora, Murray, and Lauren.

Pressing a button, Lauren turned to her lift-mates.

"We spend most of our time in the innermost areas of the levels," she said, a slight tone of regret in her voice. "So it's often easy to forget we're in space."

"We really shouldn't do that," Bryce offered. "That's how Earth got into the mess it's in now. We didn't pay attention."

"That's true," Lauren agreed. "And it may already be too late to do anything."

Bryce wondered if that statement were really true.

The lift stopped and the doors slid open.

"This way," Lauren offered as she led them off the lift and down the hall.

There were several rooms, many adorned with personalized plaques stating who was living in each one.

It soon became clear that all of these rooms belonged to men. Apparently the women's quarters were on a different level.

Lauren tapped one door and it swung open.

"Bryce," she said. "This will be your room. Drop off your luggage and Max's box and join us in a moment. I'm going to show Murray his room. It's right across the hall."

"Great," Murray said, in mock cheerfulness.

It was bad enough he had to live in a place that reminded him of a hospital, but to have his rooms directly across from Bryce was just too much.

"Oh, it won't be so bad, Murray," Theora assured him as they followed Lauren across the hall to Murray's rooms. "You'll get used to it in no time."


End file.
